Here’s a core truth I learned from Jocko Willink, who spoke at the 2021 Two-Brain Summit:
Discipline equals freedom.
I know it doesn’t make sense at first.
Isn’t freedom the ability to do whatever you want with your business?
In answer, I’ll show you how an undisciplined business—a business without systems—actually limits your freedom.
I once walked into my gym at noon to a disaster:
- Chalky handprints on the floor.
- A pair of open-gym clients finishing workouts while a class waited.
- A prospect leaning against the wall.
- My coach’s half-finished lunch on the front desk.
- Both bathrooms jammed, with people waiting outside to change into workout clothes.
- Loud, uncensored rap blaring.
I started my day as the bad guy—cutting off workouts, cleaning up messes, smoothing over a terrible first impression and pushing a coach to start on time.
I spent the rest of the day angry, hating my business and knowing tomorrow would look the same.
The problem wasn’t lazy staff or entitled clients.
The problem was that the business lived only in my head.
People were breaking rules they didn’t know existed. They were following checklists that didn’t exist outside my mind. Standards varied because I hadn’t written mine down.
Without systems, there was no discipline.
And without discipline, I had no freedom.
I was locked to the business because it would completely fall apart in my absence.
Order From Chaos
When you systemize a business, everything changes.
- When your staff knows to start classes precisely on time, they will.
- When clients know class starts exactly on time, they’ll be ready.
- When future clients know the first step to getting fitter is booking a No Sweat Intro, they’ll book it.
And so on, from the top of your business to the bottom.
So where do you start? Write it down. Build SOPs for everything that matters. Remember: Gaps get bridged by guesses, and guesses create mistakes.
Here’s a shortcut using AI: “How to Use AI to Create a Gym Staff Playbook at Warp Speed.”
After you systemize your business, stress-test your systems. Take four days off—your first taste of freedom.
When you return, you will find problems. That’s OK. Patch the holes and upgrade your systems.
Next, take seven days with no contact. This would have been unimaginable to me in my early days as a gym owner.
After a week, evaluate, patch and upgrade again.
Later, take two weeks—maybe your first real vacation in years.
That’s freedom.
Don’t worry if you still find problems on return. That’s normal. Just keep following the plan with discipline: systemize, optimize, automate.
Things will tighten up with each iteration, and you’ll earn more freedom because of your discipline.
If your business can’t run without you, you’ll never have any liberty. Your business will always fall to the level of your systems.
But if you use discipline to get the business out of your head, you’ll have freedom.
And that’s why you wanted to be an entrepreneur, right?
We help gym owners systemize businesses fast. To hear about our high-speed plan, book a call here.
